After posting about the fact that I was going to return my MacBook in order to save $200 through Amazon 
When I arrived at work this morning, I was greeted with an office complex lacking any hint of power as a construction crew had accidentally cut right through one of the main power cables.
Thinking that lady luck was smiling upon me, I jumped back in the car to head towards the Apple Store and an early trip home.
With only a few miles to go before I arrived at the mall, I was traveling along in the left lane on the highway when the car in front of me hit a big piece of metal lying in the road. As it flew up into the air, I swerved to the right in an attempt to avoid it.
I didn’t swerve far enough…
As you can see, I failed to avoid the flying piece of metal and it took a nice little chunk out of my front bumper. It is kind of difficult to see in the picture but it also scuffed up the headlight lens.
Once I arrived home, I gave a call to my insurance company to discuss the matter with them and then called the local Scion dealer to inquire on the cost of a new bumper. They referred me to a local body shop that they work with and the final quote came in at $627.32 to replace the bumper. With a $500 deductible on my insurance, I will not be filing a claim as I would only receive $127.32 and my rate would increase slightly.
Here I was on my way to return the MacBook and save myself $200 and my car gets damaged. In the end, I may have saved $200 on the computer but it has cost me an additional $427.32 in car repairs to do so. Had I kept the MacBook that I had, I would have come out ahead.
The next time that you have an opportunity to save money, hopefully it doesn’t take a turn like this and end up costing your more money.
Maybe I can find 427 people that all want to donate $1 towards my new bumper, any takers? 😉
{ 34 comments… read them below or add one }
What a bad luck 🙂 Good luck next time! 🙂
I think we have all had days like this. My husband currently is trying to get back to Michigan from Texas. Thanks to American Airlines he is already two days late getting back. And if that wasn’t bad enough he had to pay again to get on another airline. Now he is stuck in Phoenix because the flights going into Chicago have been delayed because of severe weather.
I guess we all need times like this to appreciate the good days. Next time my husband has to drive to Tennessee I bet he won’t complain. 🙂
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Sorry to hear that, every night on the local news it seems like they are announcing more flight cancellations. Hopefully he is home now or gets home soon!
Hmmmm, what kind of return would I get on or what would I get for my $1?
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Hmmm, you would get that warm, fuzzy feeling of helping someone out? Isn’t that enough? 😉
O dont be like that, it could have happened to you anytime not just when you were going to return the note book. Your poor car though!
And you should still use the $200 for a gift for your wife 🙂
Derek, you are safe is more important. Money spend on repair cost can earn back.
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Wow that’s big a hole from a chunk of metal. Man if I didn’t have to get my tags renewed this month I would help you out in a New York minute.
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That is really a bad luck and it came after a good luck. I hope you can get another “luck” to earn your money back.
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Derek,
I agree with Asia’h, at least you’re safe, it could have been heaps worse. Still completely annoying though!!
Recently I had a little incident with a Bobcat, the driver reversed into me. However, the insurance company were useless, and decided it was 50:50, which it wasn’t! 🙁
But hey, life’s too short to get stressed, right? “The best way to forget your troubles is to wear tight shoes!!!” 🙂
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That sucks! But it could have been a lot worse if that piece of metal hit your car a bit higher.
well..u cant change wat has happened
Man proposes, God disposes! Count me in for two dollars. Why only one?
Tsk. Can’t say what happens nowadays, especially on the road, but I do know that there’s always a reason for things happening. You gotta look on the bright side. Umm…What’s the bright side here? 🙂
Thanks for the well wishes everyone. Ling, there are a few bright sides to me, one being that I initially feared the object was going to come right up and crack into my windshield.
Be more cautious on the road. Accident happens on the time we least expect it.
Man that sucks, sorry to hear about that Derek. Well at least it only damaged the car eh, could have been worse.
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You had a lucky escape then? Things could have been worse!
That’s pretty rough, but that’s karma I guess. Maybe the other driver worked for the Applestore. 😉
Sorry to hear that Derek, quite a hefty bill there.
And wont the insurance make a note of the accident even though you didn’t claim (you mentioned you discussed it with them?)
You have just escaped with the additional cost of repairs to your car’s bumper. Please read this hair raising story!
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/04/14/microsoft.xp.ap/index.html
@Steve :: My agent informed me that nothing would be put into their system unless I decided to pursue a claim. Time will tell if that is true when I get my next renewal.
@HRS :: Thanks for the article. The fact that most standard machines come with Vista was actually a deciding factor for me to try the Macbook. I didn’t want to mess with ordering a machine with Vista, uninstalling and reinstalling XP. And most of the machines that I found with XP pre-loaded just did not appeal to me.
That’s the worst! I hope you come up with the money…hopefully this blog is helping!
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Ouch! That’s tough. Let’s hope cash comes from an unexpected source!
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Tough luck! What goes around comes around. Hopefully you will have some better luck knocking on your door. Something that will make you an extra 1000 bucks.
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Unfortunate things like that can happen occasionally. It is ironic, though, and I do love me my irony.
Paying $427.32 is the least of the thing you should worry.You’re safe and alive! Just imagine if you had broken bone or two? Maybe a collar bone or a jaw? I can imagine (perhaps me) swearing to not think of “saving” for the rest of my life.
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Awww… That’s just too bad.
Instead of saving. Now you get to spend even more. But yeah, looking at the brighter side of things, at least you didn’t get hurt. 🙂
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So why not go for the insurance claim? I mean that few hundreds of buck is a lot of money still. Though claiming from insurance companies will surely be eating up your time and your patience.
I have to agree with the others, be glad that you are OK, cars can be mended, sometimes people can’t.
Having said that, I can see why you are annoyed. I love my car and would hate anything bad to happen to it, but I love my life and my husband (and cat) more.
Well actually not all the time this tings are going to happen I thinks it was just an accident and no because you wanted to go to save some money, remember Murphy??? this things happen all the time specially when we just don´t need it!
Take care and see You!
Sorry to see that, it always seems to happen in situations like with your Macbook and you wish you’d never bothered.
Happened to me on the way to pick up a pizza from the local shop, the alternator on my car blew and I was left wishing I had stayed at home and made something healthy to eat!
That’s kind of hilarious and sad at at the same time. LOL.
I once decided to drive 20 miles out to get $50 off a lawnmower. On the way back I ran over some kind of road hazard that blew a tire of mine. There went that $50!!!! (And some time to get it fixed)